AIDS symptoms

The first few months after you become infected with HIV is called primary HIV infection, or acute HIV infection. You might also hear this called seroconversion. You may have symptoms of HIV infection but you may not pay attention to them, because they are like other infections such as flu. Early symptoms usually start about four weeks after the infection and can last for up to four weeks.


Symptoms of primary HIV include:

    * fever
    * swollen glands
    * sore throat
    * rash on your body or face
    * painful muscles or joints
    * headache
    * feeling generally unwell
    * ulcers in your mouth
    * sweating at night
    * brain infections such as meningitis (this is rare)

During this time, you're very infectious because the amount of the virus in your blood is high. This means that the risk of passing the infection on to someone else is high, for example, through unprotected sex.

After these early symptoms, HIV may remain hidden for years. Many people don't progress into advanced HIV infection, and deaths are now uncommon in people taking anti-HIV medicines.

If you're unaware of your HIV infection, your body's ability to fight infection becomes badly affected. When this happens, your immune system will become weak and won't be able to work properly. Eventually, you could be at risk of life-threatening illnesses. When this happens it's called advanced HIV infection (or AIDS).
Advanced HIV infection (AIDS)

Once your immune system has been seriously damaged, you may start to develop illnesses that usually require complex treatments in hospital. Illnesses associated with advanced HIV infection include:

    * tuberculosis
    * pneumonia
    * certain cancers of the lymph glands (lymphoma)

These illnesses are uncommon in people who have been taking anti-HIV medicines.

Move from AIDS Symptoms back to AIDS page